Best Japanese Rice Cookers

Making rice is an art that traditionally requires patience, know-how, and keeping a close watch on the pot. Today, many Japanese companies offer an alternative with state of the art rice cookers that take the guesswork out of making rice. These models showcase Japan’s technological innovation and the country’s love of perfectly cooked rice. Some use vacuum pumps, and multiple temperature sensors that give the rice a sweeter flavor with just the right touch of stickiness.

After careful research and finding rice cookers from Japan that go beyond those that fail to produce rice that makes the grade, I’ve come up with a list of the best Japanese rice cookers for your kitchen.

The top imported rice cooker from Japan, the Toshiba vacuum pressure rice cooker is the result of hundreds of hours of testing. The cooker uses a combination of vacuum and pressure techniques to infuse the rice with flavor and can keep rice warm for up to 32 hours in a vacuum to avoid drying out.

The Best of the Old and New

The high-end model from Toshiba combines the traditional elements of cooking rice in an iron pot with the latest innovations in cooking. A vacuum helps to soak the rice quickly, a process that used to take hours; after the cycle is done, the pressure is used to heat water to a temperature beyond boiling that infuses the grains with flavor. The IH in the name means induction heating, circulating air around the cast iron pot to evenly cook and heat instead of coils.

Perfectly Cooked Rice

The result of the blend of cooking methods is rice that beats the heat. The Toshiba’s rice is fluffy, shiny, sweet, and fragrant. Keeping its form and not mushy, a common complaint about rice makers. After being put through its paces, the Toshiba vacuum rice cooker takes the top spot for its ability to produce rice that captures the subtle flavors and textures of Japanese rice that others fail to deliver.

The Drawbacks

The main downside to the Toshiba IH rice cooker is its price. Unlike previous models from the company, this model is high-end; it stands out for the quality of the rice it produces and the amount that it costs. While the price has dropped significantly since being introduced in 2007, expect to pay for the technology it uses.

The Final Word

Overall, the Toshiba hybrid comes in at the top of the heap for high-end rice makers. The machine simply outshines the competition as its design, and the results that it yields, produce rice that makes the staple food stand out. Using the traditional Japanese methods of cooking rice using an iron pot and a food fed furnace to work from; Toshiba has added a vacuum seal to easily soak and store the rice, a pressure system for quick cooking, and an induction system for even heating.

First Runner-Up – Zojirushi Umami Micom

A close second to the Toshiba model, the Umami keeps Zojirushi’s hallmarks of giving home cooks a variety of custom settings to choose from. Two that stand out are the Umami and GABA settings.

The word “Umami” in Japanese refers to a fifth taste, going beyond sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. The Zojirushi delivers on its promise to give you rice that goes beyond the ordinary, but some find that rice cooked with the preset is a bit drier than that cooked with other settings.

The GABA function is for long grained brown rice. The machine slow cooks the rice at a low temperature for two hours to activate it before cooking.

The process is intended to bring out the flavor of the rice. The main complaint about the Umami is that it lacks the induction heating that other models from the company use for even cooking. Despite this, the quality of Zojirushi comes through.

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